Mental Scars and Candybars
by Camillia Vincent
Summary: Riddick Meets 'Peanut' My first short story. Technically it's complete, but If it was so desired I could make it into a chapter story.


Mental Scars and Candybars  
Riddick meets 'Peanut'  
  
Richard B. Riddick. Escaped Convict. Murderer. Looking for trouble and stuck in Canibian Territory. Riddick, looked around and every where he turned he found cops. With his large muscular frame, clean-shaven head and those ever present black goggles, he didn't blend in very well with the locals who were mostly merchants and, well, cops. Cops were there to protect goods coming in and going out of Canibia, and to catch convicts, murderers, and just generally bad guys and throw them back into the slam. He was not going back to the slam, but he didn't exactly have a way to get out of the territory. His ship was decimated. It just would not fly. How did Riddick know? Well, that's an easy enough answer. The Black Star had exploded just after Riddick had landed the aircraft and walked out of the docking area. When his ship had blown up it took most of the ships on his docking platform with it to "Spacecraft Heaven " This of course Riddick had expected, he knew his ship wasn't going to last much longer but he had wanted to be past Canibian Territory first. The ship's exploding dropped lots of unwanted attention down on Riddick, and in a cop infested territory and the reward on his head, it just wasn't a good situation.  
  
Riddick stayed as inconspicuous as possible, by walking in the shadows whenever possible, or when cops were around disappearing into crowds of the locals. He never stayed in any one place for too long, but he did grab a drink and some food at the local bar, and regretfully did turn down the whore there. It really was a respectable place, but she was still a whore, and Riddick was disappointed to leave her behind. It just wasn't in his best interest to stay and enjoy her many pleasures. Riddick strayed around the territory for a couple of hours, waiting for the security to lessen. It didn't and Riddick found himself wandering aimlessly about the territory again. The much to his dismay his sensitive hearing picked up some bad news coming out of a nearby cops mouth.  
  
"Wanted for the murder of...my god...that many? You say he's loose in the territory? How can you know? The Black Star? That ship just exploded in dock, there's no way he would've survived. Someone was seen leaving the ship though, a witness claimed to have seen it..."  
  
That was all Riddick bothered to listen to, merely walked down a dark, dead end alley. He all but vanished in the shadows. He settled on the ground his back against the stone way, and waited for the... there it was. That loud wailing and flashing red lights of sirens going off all over the territory. Locals ran screaming into their homes and into nearby shops if they weren't close enough to their own stoops. Cops scattered every where, he'd watched as eight, no, nine now, ran past his alley with their fire arms in hand and all their bullet proof covering. The whole territory was in an uproar, and Riddick just smiled and closed his eyes, all this commotion brought on because of the people's fear of one man. Him. He decided to revel in the compliment, at least until some lone cop decided to check this alley. Then he'd kill the man, in one manner or another, and go back to enjoying his compliment.  
  
Riddick's senses picked up on someone else entering the alley. Small footsteps were barely audible in his ears, the sweet scent of innocence and...candy? He kept perfectly still until the intruder paused in front of him, then seizing the moment, he grabbed the body with his large hands and pressing the form against the wall with his shiv against the figures neck he opened his eyes.  
  
"Peanut?" Little fingers held out a caramel coated peanut, for an Earth made candy bar. Pay Day the label had said. When the peanut wasn't taken, that soft, innocent voice questioned again, "No?" Then shrugged and pushed the peanut past that bow of a child's mouth and chewed happily.  
  
"What the hell?" Shine glazed eyes looked over the child he so roughly held. From what he could tell she probably had red, or reddish blond hair. He couldn't really tell, but he knew it was a lighter color. Her eyes, he knew they were black, or a least a nearly black brown, which he thought to be incredibly odd, for such a fair complexion. She wore a very worn, old dress. With too many frills and layers, but it was all dusty. The child in general was covered in dust from the planet.  
  
"No bad words." The child said harshly, or at least it was meant to be harsh then on a completely different tone she asked, "Peanut?" Again a peanut from the child's candybar was held out toward Riddick. He looked down at the peanut, then back to the child. "No?" and the little piece of candy was pushed into her mouth and chewed happily.  
  
The corner of Riddick's mouth hitched up in a smirk, and he set the child down. She sat down on the ground at his feet, and against the wall, where Riddick had earlier sat. She seemed generally unfazed by the fact that she'd almost died. Riddick sat in front of the girl his arms resting on his bent knees, and he watched her. She ate that candybar peanut by caramel covered peanut, oblivious to all that surrounded her. "Do you know who I am?" He asked in a calm, fairly amused tone.  
  
"Peanut?" Little girls questioned. Her eyes were large, and full of something, something, that Riddick couldn't quite identify.  
  
Riddick looked down briefly at the peanut the little girl offered, then back at her, "You aren't afraid of me, are you?" His head canted to the sided in sheer curiosity.  
  
"No?" The girl shoved the peanut past dirty, pink lips and chewed happily.  
  
"I've killed dozens of people. Women, children...Whole families." The comment was meant to frighten the girl. It was a test of sorts.  
  
Those innocent, black eyes blinked at Riddick, then pudgy, little fingers held out another piece of her candybar, "Peanut?"  
  
"No." Riddick shook his head and dismissed the little peanut, to which the little girl shrugged and ate happily. Riddick laughed, the sound booming and almost ominous sounding.  
  
The girl seemed to not notice, merely offered again a caramel covered peanut. "Peanut?" That small hand held the peanut out toward Riddick, and her eyes pleaded in a way that might signal hurt feelings if he didn't take it.  
  
The last thing Riddick needed was a crying child to draw attention to him in this alley, but then again, he did find he was developing a slight fondness for her, so he took the peanut. He didn't eat it yet but the girl seemed content with the fact that he accepted.  
  
Almost immediately the girl offer another peanut, which Riddick took also. Again another peanut was given to Riddick, and there were more handed to the large man until he had acquired a small handful. Once reaching this small handful, it was Riddick's turn to eat the peanuts. He actually discovered that they were quite good, for being an old, Earth-made candy. And personal he still preferred liquor, or alcohol of some sorts, and meat, as he was very much a carnivore.  
  
After that the girl was done offering the peanuts, and proceeded to eat the candybar herself, peanut by peanut. She looked up suddenly and her eyes went blank. She seemed frozen for a full minute, Riddick couldn't even hear her heartbeat. She snapped out of it suddenly, her whole body shaking free of the strange moment, then she looked past Riddick. "Ut-oh," She stated shoving another peanut in her mouth.  
  
Just after the child's statement of trouble, Riddick heard the pounding footsteps and commands yelled from cops' mouths. He jumped to his feet shiv ready for what every came his way, "Shit! You led them here!" He pointed the weapon in the girls direction.  
  
The girl who was still picking apart her candybar, didn't even bother to look up as she spoke, "Bad men. Big guns." Peanuts were crunched between the words he soft voice had said.  
  
"Yes damnit!" As the first of the cops ran down the alley and towards Riddick, Riddick charged the cop and with a flick of his wrist and a swipe of his blade, the cop went down. Actually, his intestines went down first, and the blood that went everywhere, then the cop fell.  
  
Blood had sprayed over the girl and she froze for a second and stared at her candybar, there was blood on it too. She frowned then wiped the candybar on her dress and continued to eat the peanuts. "Twenty-three." She spoke, dark eyes staring, though oddly, not in horror, at the fallen cop.  
  
Riddick turned slowly, "What? Twenty-three? Twenty-three cops?" He knelt down in front of the girl, amazed at how she tolerated the gore and blood. "Is that was it is? Twenty-three cops? Bad men?"  
  
The girl smiled up at Riddick, that same gleam he couldn't place earlier in her eyes, "Peanut?" The candybar was offered to Riddick, and grinning wickedly at his new knowledge he took a bite and preparing himself for the onslaught heading his direction, he tossed it back to the girl.  
  
Soon five more cops came stomping down the alley way. The first two were taking out the same way the first cop had been, this caused the other three to fall back a step or two and fire their guns, Riddick rolled behind the stone, where the wall of one of the building, jutted out. He for a brief moment looked back to check on the girl who had been sitting right in plain sight, only to find she was no where to be seen. "Where did she go?" He whispered, then focusing on the task at hand turned his attention back to the cops.  
  
The gunshots had stopped and the men crept close then suddenly jump around the corner where Riddick was hiding and fired mercilessly. Once the ammo had been unloaded and the dust had cleared, the cops realized their target, was missing.  
  
"Should always look before you shoot, or you might not see what your aiming for." The gravely voice was the last thing the cops heard, before they were killed. One cop had his neck slit before he knew what was going on, the second cops chest was split open, when he turned to see the attacker, and the third well the third cop had the shiv shoved up through the bottom of his head just under his chin. Riddick who's hand still gripped the shiv in the man's face ripped it out violently through the front, bone crunching as the whole front of the cops skull was split with the force of Riddick's strength.  
  
Riddick ran out into the streets, dead into the mass of cops. All guns pointed to him immediately, and the cops surrounded him. In his head he began putting together a plan to fight off all the officers. He dropped the shiv, and as soon as the cops let their guns relax he grabbed a nearby cop and back him self to the outside of the circle, for a short moment only the cop protected him.  
  
The plan worked temporarily, the other cops dropped their guns but as the moved toward Riddick, blatant stupidity flashed in his head as he realized he'd just set himself up, he cursed inwardly, and shoved the hostage cop into the others, and ran. But before he could get anywhere the cops were lunging at him, knocking him down, beating him.  
  
He fought them off as best he could many of the cops would have broken limbs be the time a little voice cried out over the sounds of the fight, "DADDY!!" The little girl threw herself down over Riddick, her tiny arms wrapped around his neck, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy...."  
  
Riddick rose a brow to this and met the child's gaze, her eyes were as blank as they'd been earlier right before the cops had come and he felt an odd push at his mental barriers. He was about to question it when he noticed the cops were backing off, at least the ones that a looked at the girl when she'd been running toward the fight. "How interesting," that low, rough voice commented.  
  
The little girl, got off of him, and stood nearby, "Daddy, okay?"  
  
"This guy is not you dad, kid." One of the cops at the head of a small group of officers eyeing the two very suspiciously.  
  
The little girl's head snapped toward the group and with that same blank stare she walked toward the cop who spoke and kicked him soundly in the shin, in the painful way that only little children knew how to do. "Is my daddy."  
  
Riddick was on his feet and a cop asked him, "Is this your daughter?"  
  
The little girl ran up to Riddick and clung to his leg, she looked pathetic, but it was a convincing act, "Uh...Yeah..." he answered slowly.  
  
"There's a ship at the west docking strip. Take it and your lovely daughter and leave the territory. There's a killer on the loose, and we're still trying to apprehend him."  
  
"What's the name of the ship?" Riddick was trying not to grin as he picked up the little girl.  
  
"The Mental Trick."  
  
"Thank you, officer. We'll leave right away, won't we Peanut?"  
  
The girl nodded vigorously, she had that candybar in hand again.  
  
The ship was five kilometers away, but Riddick and the girl made it there in excellent in time. Riddick took a seat in the cockpit, and in a matter of minutes had the ship out of the gravitation pull of the planet Canibia. He was silent, in deep thought, as he traveled further and further away from Canibia. He knew the child had something to do with his escape, but he also noticed that it seemed to be a mental connection sort of trick she did. He had a feeling if she wasn't around the people on which this trick was pulled it would wear off, and he wanted to be as far away as possible when they figured out that they'd willing let a dangerous man loose.  
  
The child had been skipping up and down the long corridors of the ship, eating her candybar, but soon she turned toward the cockpit and skipped up to the front of the ship. Climbing into the large seat beside Riddick, she turned her dark eyes toward the man.  
  
"You're a telepath. Or an alien. Or something, maybe an experiment. "Riddick stated though he didn't exactly believe the words coming out of his own mouth. He didn't really believe the thoughts forming in his mind, "You have to be. I know you were the reason I escaped. Canibian cops aren't the gullible sort, who would just accept the pleading cries of a child." He was silent for a moment and then added, "Especially not when the child and alleged father are covered in blood. So tell me, who are you?" He turned his surgically shined eyes toward the girl, "More importantly, what are you?"  
  
The girl smiled in a wickedly, innocent way, and that strange gleam in her eyes grew just a touch more apparent, her short fingers holding out an offering her soft voice answered with, "Peanut?" 


End file.
